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According to a report published by Apple Insider, the high-tech giant has plans to introduce a new high-end iPhone model in 2017 that sports a curved glass case and 5.8-inch AMOLED display.

Apple’s next-generation iPhone is expected to include wireless charging and new biometric recognition technology like face and iris scanning, presumably accomplished through a front-facing camera.

The speculation concerning the integration of such new technology into Apple’s signature product was made in an investment note by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The Apple Insider report, which draws upon Kuo’s research, notes that Apple owns a number of patents covering secure facial recognition technology, including intellectual property that relies on 3-D rendering for increased levels of accuracy.

The report also has conjecture that states that the company could be leveraging its recently acquisitions, which include: facial recognition specialist Emotient and real-time 3-D rendering firm Faceshift.

Kuo also believes Apple is likely to position the 5.8-inch AMOLED iPhone model as a replacement for its current 5.5-inch TFT-LCD model, but if the company is unable to procure necessary AMOLED supply, the unit could launch as a top-end add-on to the 2017 iPhone line.

AMOLED, or active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, is a display technology used in smart watches, mobile devices, laptops, and televisions which provide higher refresh rates than passive-matrix displays. The technology often reduces visual response time to less than a millisecond, and consume significantly less power, which makes active-matrix OLEDs well-suited for portable electronics, where power consumption is critical to battery life.

“If the supply of AMOLED panel is sufficient, we believe it is more likely that the first scenario will happen, in which case a 5.8-inch AMOLED model will entirely replace the 5.5-inch TFT-LCD iPhone,” Kuo said in his research note.

The report however cautions that Apple has for years been rumored to be transitioning to AMOLED technology, but display manufacturers have simply not been equipped to output supply for a product that sells hundreds of millions of units each year. Kuo himself once noted that an AMOLED iPhone would not arrive until 2019 at the earliest. As a result, the investment report should be interpreted as advisory and speculative in nature.

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About Rawlson King

Rawlson O’Neil King is a contributing editor at BiometricUpdate.com and is an experienced communications professional, management consultant, trade journalist and author who recently published a book about control and electronic networks and who has written numerous articles in trade publications and academic journals about smart home and building technologies. Follow him @rawlsonking2.